


Oh the world is okay

by mozaikmage



Series: The Russian-American Diaspora AU [2]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, College AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 12:32:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9820685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mozaikmage/pseuds/mozaikmage
Summary: now with more characters and everyone being friends, yay





	

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from Poor Little Rich Boy by Regina Spektor because I was listening to Soviet Kitsch while writing haha  
> Thanks for the kudos and nice comments on my last fic! Some of you wanted more. Here is more

"Mila, I texted him THREE HOURS AGO and he still hasn't responded, why does the universe hate me," Yuri whined, tapping at his phone screen like it had personally insulted him.

"Kitty, he's probably working. Or in class. Or maybe he's not as addicted to his cell phone as you are. Maybe his phone died. So many possibilities."

Yuri slumps down, defeated by common sense. "Fuck you."

In the three days that had passed since his encounter with Otabek Altin at the restaurant in Brighton Beach, they had exchanged about twenty texts, mostly about the weather and how hard exams were in college. Otabek was not a very good texter. Neither was Yuri, if it came to that, but at least he knew what an emoji was. It was kind of disappointing, that a guy who was so attractive and cool in real life typed like a block of wood. 

"Look at this," Yuri had said to Mila that day, "Do you think his texting plan charges him per word or what? How does he manage to answer everything with one word?"

"Dude, maybe he just doesn't like texting. Maybe you could meet up with him again and ASK HIM YOURSELF, what a wild concept," she'd snapped back.

Right now, though, the two of them are sitting at the counter in a Chipotle on campus, next to Victor and his Japanese boyfriend, whose name was Yuuri, just to make life even more confusing for everyone around. Georgi Popovich, the other member of their informal little group, is sulking in his apartment alone, having been dumped by his longterm girlfriend Anya. "Good riddance, I'd say," Yuri had said when it happened, but none of them anticipated how hard he'd take the breakup.

"We gotta do something to pull Goshka out of this slump," Mila says now, in English for Yuuri's sake.

"Goshka?" he says.

"Sorry, Yuuri. It is sort of a nickname for Georgi, in Russian. He's very sad about Anya leaving him, and we should do something to cheer him up."

"That's a great idea!" Victor says, pulling up Facebook on his phone. "Let's see... there's a Chalk Arts thing happening in Washington Square Park on friday, the drama school is putting on a play every night next week, there's always the museums..."

"You have no idea what Georgi's interests are, do you?" Yuri interrupts.

There was a pause. "Well..." Victor trails off. "He and Anya were pretty much joined at the hip until the breakup, and they've been together since our freshman year. I know he's majoring in something related to performing arts!"

"He's a dance major, Victor," Mila replies. 

"Then we could take him dancing?"

"Where?"

Yuri's phone finally vibrates and his heart skips a beat. One new message.

_ Otabek: Sorry I was in class _

"Don't say it," Yuri warns, as Mila reads the message over his shoulder.

"Wasn't going to," she replies, smiling. "Hey, that gives me an idea! What if we all go out to the restaurant Yura's new friend works at?"

"Yurachka! You made a friend?" Victor exclaims, delighted

"You don't need to sound so surprised," Yuri grumbles, in Russian. 

"What did he say?" Yuuri whispers to Victor. He's literally sitting in Victor's lap. They are disgustingly adorable.

"Nothing important."

Yuri crumples up a napkin and launches it across the table at them. "Anyway," he says. "It's a central Asian and Russian restaurant in Brighton Beach and yes, my friend Otabek works there. He probably wouldn't mind me bringing all of you losers there, considering he didn't kick Mila out for being loud and obnoxious."

"Obnoxious? Me, Mila Babicheva? But yes, my point is, it might be fun, we could stop at the Russian grocery store and buy cakes and snacks, make sure he's not drinking himself to death alone in his apartment... that wasn't necessary, I apologize. But what do you think? Who votes yes?"

Unsurprisingly, everyone votes yes.

Yuri takes a selfie of all of them together, so Otabek can see who he spends his time with when he chooses to spend time with people, and hits send. Yuuri and Victor have to leave for class, giving Mila time to walk Yuri through the difficult trenches of Texting a Cute Boy.

_ Yuri: One of our friends got dumped by his girlfriend so we're dragging him to your restaurant on Saturday _

_ Yuri: Be prepared _

_ Otabek: Haha okay _

_ Otabek: They seem nice  _

_ Yuri: I guess /// _

_ Otabek: I'm not scheduled to work Saturday so if you want I could join you _

Yuri stared at the phone, then silently slid it towards his friend and gave her a moment to read it.

"MILA IVANOVNA BABICHEVA, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY, HOW DO I RESPOND TO THIS WITHOUT SOUND TOO STUPID, FORWARD, OR GENERALLY UNFAVORABLE."

“You don’t have to shout, I am literally right here. Calm down. Give me the phone.”

“No I wanna type it just tell me what to say,” Yuri says, turning away from her so she couldn’t see the screen.

“What are you, in kindergarten?  _ Durilka kartonnaya,  _ just say that sounds great, see you then! Remember when you were a sensible, reasonable human being? I miss those days.”

_ Yuri: Yes that sounds great! Saturday at 7, see you then))) _

“I just don’t wanna mess this up,” Yuri mumbled, hiding his face in his hoodie again. “He’s so nice and so attractive and I want him to like me forever and maybe kiss my face.”

Mila tilted her head sideways and looked at him curiously. “You know, that’s the closest you’ve ever come to actually saying you like someone.”

“Bullshit, I tell people I like them all the time. You, for instance, are not a complete waste of space most of the time.”

Mila glares at him, then checks her watch. “Ah, shit, I have class now. I’ll talk to you later, nerd.” She grabs her bag and walks out, leaving Yuri alone with his problems.

***

And so, Saturday arrives. Yuri’s phone buzzes at him around five.

_ Old Hag: If you’re freaking out about clothes don’t do that, just put something on and be ready to leave in half an hour _

Yuri looks at the pile of discarded shirts and pants on his bed. “How the fuck did she know,” he says out loud.

So he puts on the tiger shirt that always made him feel confident (though he’d never admit it), a black hoodie, and black pants (cool people wear black all the time right?).

“You look fine,” Mila says when she arrives with the boyfriends to pick him up.

“You look as terrible as you always do,” he replies. 

They walk down 7th avenue towards Georgi’s apartment, which is conveniently close to campus and unfairly nice. Georgi’s parents are rich, but there’s an unspoken agreement between the crew to not really talk about how they’re all paying for the expensive American college degree. 

Mila had called Georgi ahead of time to make sure he was presentable when they arrive, and he is. Not the glittery androgynous fashion icon of pre-breakup days, but not homeless-looking either. Not too embarrassing to be seen with. 

“How are you doing, Gosha?”

“Suffering deeply,” he replies, completely deadpan. Yuri resists the urge to snicker.

“We are here to distract you from the suffering!” Victor beams, grabbing Georgi by the shoulders and steering him towards the subway station as the group follows. New York’s subway system is so much more confusing than the Moscow metro it’s a wonder Yuri ever gets where he intends to go, and he thinks about this as Mila pushes him on and off the trains, because they have to transfer like twice to get from Georgi’s place to Brighton and all these lines are the same color but with different letters that run to different places, like what the fuck?

“The New York Subway is terrible but it functions just well enough that no one bothers to change it,” Mila explains, when he asks.

Eventually though, they make it.

“Dinner first and shopping later, because buying groceries on an empty stomach is never a good idea,” Mila says as the group of them leave the subway station. She turns to Yuri. “Did you tell your boy where to meet us?”

“He’s not MY boy, and I guess I just assumed we were meeting up at the restaurant? He probably assumed that too. ... I should text him just in case,” Yuri says, and his phone buzzes a millisecond later.

_ Otabek: We’re meeting up at the restaurant right? _

“He’s a psychic,” Yuri proclaims, reading the message out loud. Georgi actually smiles for the first time that day. Mission accomplished.

_Yuri: Yeah I was just about to text you about that, haha_ _  
_ _Yuri: See you there!_

“Great, I have Google Maps open, let’s go.” Mila leads them through the crowded streets. The train rumbles overhead, and Yuri can smell sea brine mixed in with the usual dirty city smells. Maybe when the weather’s warmer they’ll go to the beach, he thinks. If this thing with Otabek lasts that long. Fuck, if a thing with Otabek even starts.

Yuri can see him from across the street. Otabek is waiting right outside the restaurant, leaning against the door and looking at something on his phone. The streetlight hits him like a fucking spotlight, god, he’s beautiful. 

Yuri manages not to sprint and jaywalks with dignity, carefully behind Mila and at about the same speed as Victor and Yuuri, Georgi bringing up the rear.

“Hey,” he says, when they finally meet. “You’ve met Mila, that’s Victor and Yuuri, yes I know, the sad sack is Georgi and we are here to cheer him the fuck up.”

“I’m not a sad sack, the light of my life has left me for another man and I have the right to wallow,” Georgi says.

“You’ve been wallowing for like two weeks now, that’s enough,” Yuri snaps back. Japanese Yuuri looks confused and Yuri realizes suddenly that he’d slipped back into Russian again. Whoops. “Sorry,” he says in English, and stares at the ground in embarrassment.

“Anyway,” Mila says in English, smoothly stepping in between them all, “shall we go?”

So they get dinner and Otabek tells everyone about the house specials and the food he thinks they do better than the other restaurants on this block, and Yuri has the best khachapuri he’s ever tasted in his goddamn life. They’re all sitting around a circular table and Otabek is way closer to him than he really needs to be and Yuri is definitely okay with this. 

They order tea and Otabek’s boss brings them a free chocolate wafer cake “for Beka and his nice friends,” like what even. (It’s not on the menu. Otabek explains he buys cake from the grocery store and keeps it in the back of the restaurant for snacks. So really, it’s Otabek’s cake.) 

Victor is telling them all about a funny thing his pet dog did once and Yuri is slowly and carefully inching his hand closer to Otabek’s, when Otabek finally reaches out and takes it. His hand is large and warm and safe and the terrible subway ride was so fucking worth it just for this.

Yuri is sure he’s blushing, and feels like an idiot, for blushing like a fucking middle-schooler at a boy holding his hand under a dinner table.

“Are we still going shopping after this? It’s getting late and the stores might be closed by now,” he says instead, perfectly casually.

Mila frowns and googles the store they were going to go to. “Ah, damn, it just closed ten minutes ago. Georgi, do you feel better now even without buying lots of unnecessary candy?”

Georgi actually takes a minute to think about it before finally saying, “Yes. Yes I do. Thank you all for taking some time out of your busy lives to make me feel better. I deeply appreciate it.” Yuri refrains from rolling his eyes at this.

Outside the restaurant Yuri decides to just get it over with and asks Otabek if he would like to go on a date. “Like, a real date. I mean if you don’t want to that’s cool too I just. Yeah.”

“Yes,” Otabek says, immediately, and Yuri is deeply relieved.

“Okay. So uh, yeah. I’ll text you,” Yuri says, and runs to catch up with the rest of his group.

“Did you ask him out?” Mila asks, when he reaches them.

“He said yes,” Yuri replies. “But then I went and ran away like an idiot. So maybe he changed his mind immediately having seen how terrible I am at handling life in general.”

Victor snickers and whispers something to Yuuri, probably translating because Yuri forgot, again. “I’m sure it was no worse than how Victor and I first met,” Yuuri says. “I posted in the class facebook group looking for a math tutor, and he just shows up in my room the next day, and I’m like, ‘who are you and how did you get in here?’ and he’s like, ‘your new math tutor!’”

“We’d actually met at a party a few weeks before that, but Yuuri was so drunk he didn’t remember any of it!” Victor continues. “I must’ve looked like such a creep.”

“You know what? That actually does make me feel a little bit better, thank you. You’re both fucking idiots.”

They all laugh then. Then Georgi goes, “When I met Anya...” and everyone freezes, unsure of what was going to come next.

“When I met Anya,” he says, stiffly, “I walked into a pole. She laughed and helped me up. Turns out we were going to the same class.”

They keep walking in silence, waiting for Georgi to continue. “I thought she loved me. I thought she loved me as much as I loved her. But I guess at some point, she stopped being happy with me, and I didn’t notice.”

Mila puts one hand on his shoulder. “Just because Anya wasn’t the one, doesn’t mean you’ll never meet someone who is.”

“Yeah man. You never know,” Yuri says.

He thinks back to the dinner table, to Otabek’s sudden appearance in his life, and repeats, “You never know.”

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Durilka kartonnaya = "cardboard doofus", basically "you dork" it originated in some old movie and my mom calls me this sometimes so it's 100% a legit thing to call someone  
> on twitter @mashazart, tumblr @cubistemoji


End file.
